Government Commits £2bn To Cutting-Edge Tech And Research Funding

Prime Minister Theresa May has outlined plans to pour an additional £2 billion per year in to Britain’s research and development sector in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and biotech.

Speaking at the CBI annual conference, May revealed the plans for the UK’s ambitions Industrial Strategy, which will run until the end of the current Parliament.

Alongside the hike in funding, the Industrial Strategy will also review current tax incentives in a bit to ensure British companies can keep up with others on the global stage.

Innovation investment

“Our modern Industrial Strategy will be ambitious for business and ambitious for Britain,” said May.

“It is a new way of thinking for government – a new approach. It is about government stepping up, not stepping back, building on our strengths, and helping Britain overcome the long-standing challenges in our economy that have held us back for too long.

“It is about making the most of the historic opportunity we now have to signal an important, determined change.”

Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund will be overseen by UK Research and Innovation agency which will look to back companies that can build upon the Britain’s current research and development strengths. The idea is to take the research and find a way to commercialise it and area that Britain has been weak in doing so, which has often resulted in ideas being developed in the UK than commercialised beyond Britain’s shores.

Government will also work on consulting on how the additional funding will be allocated to ensure that emerging fields where Britain has its strengths, such as robotics, AI, industrial biotechnology and advanced materials manufacturing, are capitalised upon.

As part of the Industrial Strategy reveal, May also revealed that the HM Treasury will look at whether government can make its funding support even more effective to increase the revenue and GDP tax breaks and funding for research generates.

Stepping in with more funding means the government may have gone some way to alleviate concerns that UK technology research would dwindle if leaves the European Union.

Quiz: What do you know about European tech and the EU?